So. We are working on a super top secret project/ collaboration (well, not really THAT top secret, but we are pretty sure we aren’t allowed to specify more than that at this point). Anyway, the other, er, counterpart in this collaboration requested a portrait of Beth and Melissa, which you would think we would have, being a ten year old company and all. Turns out we only have portraits taken by various magazines, meaning we can’t reprint them as our own. Fast forward to us fumbling with a Leica and snapping away this past Tuesday. We plan to have an official shoot, of course, but until then, we kind of loved the informality of this one…

No, no, summer itself isn’t actually here. (Um, obviously. Though: Oh, how we wish. How we wish.) Our summer collection is here and it is so cute that we are all freaking out and devising the exact warm time and place we will wear each and every piece. Pictures of the collection will be up beginning of next week, but for now here is a sneak peek.

Happy Weekend!

We, like everyone else in the world (right??), have been poring over style.com every day for the past week to check out what other designers did for Fall 2010. And while seeing everyone else’s collections makes us positively giddy for the moment we can finally show you our Fall 2010 collection (think pailletes! polka dots! poofy sleeves!), it also has us thinking about what we want to WEAR this fall. Or… right now, since, lest we forget, it is still February and therefore still the midst of winter. Our picks so far? As in things we can’t wait to pair (however impractically) with dresses and skirts and tops from OUR fall collection? Chris Benz’s neon fur gloves (!), for starters. And Thakoon’s long and perfectly hooded grey wool coat. And Michael Kors’ winter-spring-summer-fall strappy leather sandal heels. Yum. And this only from the New York shows, folks. We are almost afraid to even look at Paris when the time comes.

(Above, from left, all Fall 2010: Chris Benz [photo from nymag.com], Thakoon [style.com], Michael Kors [style.com].)

Well, folks, New York Fall 2010 Fashion Week is officially here and in full swing, and although our Fall collection won’t be showing until March, that didn’t stop us from joining in the kickoff festivities on Tuesday night at the Standard, where the Sundance Channel and Full Frontal Fashion hosted an intimate party for the premiere of “Catwalk Countdown”, a docu-series following ten designers as each prepares their fall collection, including, yes, Thread Social (as well as some of our favorite other designers: Chris Benz, Shipley & Halmos, Vena Cava).

(Ed. note: This preceding ‘paragraph’ might qualify as one of the longest sentences ever written. Right?)

Beth and Melissa mingled and hammed it up for the camera while the docu-series played on various flat screens (on silent, meaning we will have to wait, like the rest of the world, to catch the full show when it airs on the telly). We were, however, only able to stay for one glass of champagne (okay, three) since we do (ahem) have a fall collection to finish.

(Click here for a sneak peek at Catwalk Countdown. ‘Tis juicy, we promise.)

Oh, to look like Arlenis, to be riding that bike, to be laughing in the warm sun with green leaves and blue sky overhead, and to be wearing that cute-as-all-hell (pardon our francais) ensemble whilst doing so…

This we say on a snowy Thursday morning in January, a morning in which we all battled our way through the slushy city into the office, a morning in which we are most definitely not feeling anywhere near as light and sunny and carefree as Arlenis appears to be. But that’s okay; it’s okay because until we do feel that way, we can (and we will) look at this photo over and over and remember that the sun will come out again.

And on that motivational (we hope) note: Back to work for us. Our fall collection won’t finish designing itself!

(Happy photo courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar, February 2010 issue. That darling skirt? You guessed it: Thread Social. Buy it here. Also, we suggest checking out the rest of this story if you can, as it is packed with even more smiles and sun and sweet scenarios.)

We love Net-A-Porter.com. To us, it is internet shopping at its finest, from the finely edited merchandise (like, oh, the Thread Social dress at left) down to the actual easy-to-maneuver site itself. Our only complaint is that at times it physically pains us to to visit the site, lest we fall irrevocably in love with, say, these sandals or this bag, neither of which exactly fall in our budget at this time. Or (if we are going to be honest with ourselves) ever. Sad sigh.

Anyway. We were beyond overjoyed to find an email from the site this morning reading: “Win a $40,000 Shopping Spree.” Um, yes, please.

40,000!?!

We could scoop up those shoes and that bag, our stripe-y dress, and a pair of jeans and a new bikini and a cool big necklace and maybe a new trench and another pair of sunnies and a new pair of riding boots and maybe another LBD or three, and a cute little skirt and a furry shrug. And still have money left over. (Wonder if we could donate some to charity? After all, we are good people at heart and don’t want to be selfish here.)

Er. Clearly we haven’t thought about this much.

(Enter here. Fingers crossed. All of them. Good luck! And if you win, don’t forget who told you about the contest. We’d be quite content with even one of the things on our above list. Just sayin’.)

And here it is, folks: The outfit we will be wearing all spring long. (Yes, we are already talking spring, not just because all the fashion mags are, but because we are oh-so politely pretending the cold insanity that is this time of year is not happening.) We don’t mean, of course, that we will be wearing this exact outfit all spring long, but rather that we will sure as sugar be channeling its essence–tough, tailored, sexy–well through Memorial Day.

Good ol’ Teen Vogue. Always styling their way into our little hearts.

(At left: Teen Vogue’s February cover girl Jessica Szhor in our denim high-waisted shorts from Spring 2010; photo courtesy of teenvogue.com. And BTW: Lest you think we didn’t absolutely and totally freak out when we flipped open to this credit, we’ll just fess up and let you know that, as MAJOR Gossip Girl fans, we did. Big time.)

When our friend Karen over at MTV called us up and asked us to gather some festive dresses for the oh-so-sexy (hey, we’ll admit it) Vanessa Minnillo to wear for a New Year’s Eve event, we knew immediately which of our dresses would be the absolute perfect choice for her. (Ahem. See left. The deep jade color! The curve-hugging ruffles! Done and done, right??) Of course, despite this knowledge, we couldn’t just send one dress, so we pulled a bunch of fun frocks, threw ‘em in a garment bag, and handed said garment bag over to Karen.

Sure enough, upon our post-holiday return to civilization – er, New York City, we were simply delighted to kick off the New Year with this little gem of a photo in our inbox. (And to smugly note, of course, that we were correct about the ultimate dress selection.) A smoking hot Nick Lachey arm-in-arm with an even more smoking hot Vanessa Minnillo in our smoking hot dress? Happy New Year, indeed! Now there’s a reason to stick to those New Year’s Resolutions.

(Shop holiday here. If you simply must have this particular dress [which we can't blame you], shoot us an email, since it isn’t on our site at the moment, but be forewarned: We have a limited supply left.)

…even though we’d like to: Happy Holidays, folks, from us to you! Make it a good one and wear lots o’ little happy dresses. See you in 2010! (!!!)